x

Already member? Login first!

Comments / New

Lightning Morning News: Could Brandon Saad fill a role on Tampa Bay’s roster?

Dec 19, 2023; Tampa, Florida, USA; St. Louis Blues left wing Brandon Saad (20) passes the puck as Tampa Bay Lightning left wing Tanner Jeannot (84) defends during the first period at Amalie Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-USA TODAY Sports

It appears that the St. Louis Blues are in the midst of a roster shake-up. First they traded Scott Perunovich to the New York Islanders for a 2026 conditional fifth-round pick. Then, on Tuesday, they placed Brandon Saad and his $4.5 million cap hit on waivers. On Wednesday, it was announced that he cleared, but that he would be assigned to their AHL affiliate in Springfield. Instead, he agreed to be placed on unconditional waivers for the purpose of terminating his contract.

When he clears (we’ll know by 2:00 PM today tomorrow) he’ll be an unrestricted free agent and able to sign a new contract with any team. That $4.5 million cap hit goes poof in the night as the 32-year-old walks away from the money left on this year’s deal, and next year, the final season under the five-year deal he signed back in 2021. Whatever team signs him will not be responsible for that deal and can sign him to a pro-rated deal.

So, let’s join every other fan base out there and wonder if it would make sense to sign the two-time Stanley Cup champion. It’s been kind of a tough season for Saad, who has seven goals on the season (but they came in just three games as he scored twice against Winnipeg, twice against Buffalo, and recorded a hat trick against Ottawa). The seven-time, twenty-goal scorer isn’t the middle-six depth scorer he was in his prime with Chicago and Columbus, but he might still provide some value for a team that needs a little offensive push on the bottom-six.

Gee. If only we knew a team that was struggling to get goals from their third and fourth lines.

Is he the genuine, top-of-the-line, cure-all-that-ails-you, tonic to vault the Tampa Bay Lightning back up to the top of the standings? No, of course not. Nor would it be the franchise-altering deal that changes the future of the Lightning. However, it could be an upgrade.

Okay. Yeah, that’s not great. If the Lightning were thinking about offering him a multi-year, multi-million dollar contract, we would be a little more leery. However, let’s compare him to a couple of current players on the roster:

Cam Atkinson

The Lightning took a chance on Cameron Atkinson returning to his pre-injury form and providing some more offense than he did last season with Philadelphia. It doesn’t appear that’s going to happen, and Atkinson has been scratched the last two games.

Gage Goncalves

We are fans of Over-Age Gage, and if the Lightning weren’t fighting for every point right now, we would want him getting reps out there so that he could be a key part of the future. Those minutes could go to Saad, who is a bit more of a known commodity.

Zemgus Girgensons

We posted this one just for fun. Those two columns on the right for The Hammer? That’s why he’s in the line-up. He’s providing above average defense on the third and fourth lines. If he isn’t going to score, at least he’s keeping the other team from scoring. Besides, at this point we all have to be rooting for him to get the monkey off of his back with a goal, right?

Mikey Eyssimont’s numbers are better than Girgensons, but it feels like some of the penalties he’s been taking of late might have him on thin ice with Coach Cooper.

As for Saad, his lack of offense is kind of puzzling in a sense. He’s generating the same amount of individual scoring chances and high-danger chances as he did last season when 26 goals, but his shooting percentage has cratered from 16.07% to 9.86% (he would really fit in with the Lightning right now). He’s also giving the puck away at twice the rate he did last season. Would he be an asset defensively? Probably not at this stage in his career, but on a line with Girgensons and Luke Glendening, any deficiencies would be offset by their play.

The former second-round pick likes to do his work in front of the net, and would give the Lightning defenders another stick to shoot at for deflections and tip-ins. He also rates fairly high in regards to setting up his teammates with passes into the high-danger areas.

Despite the season not going quite the way he, or the Blues, wanted, he’ll have more than a handful of suitors calling him the minute he clears the waivers. If the price is reasonable, the Lightning should be among those on the phone with his agent.

Lightning News

NHL releases Tampa Bay’s Quarter-Century Teams [Raw Charge]

Brad Richards over Ondrej Palat was the main difference between what they chose and what we had predicted, but a strong argument can be made for both of them.

Can Gage Goncalves add to the Lightning’s scoring depth in 2nd call-up [Tampa Bay TImes]

From your keyboard to the hockey gods’ ears, Eddie Encina. It’s always cheaper to solve a problem from within the organization than outside, and Goncalves is back with a better understanding of what he needs to do at the NHL level.

Brian Bradley joins the Block Party [Lightning Youtube]

The soon-to-be Lightning hall-of-fame stopped by to chat with the guys on the latest edition of The Block Party.

Lightning Hall of Fame game set for February 1 [Tampa Bay Lightning]

Bradley and Rick Peckham will be officially inducted into the team’s Hall of Fame prior to their February 1st game against the New York Islanders.

Hockey News

Kaiden Guhle undergoes surgery [Eyes on the Prize]

Normally, we wouldn’t post about another team’s injury issue, but a lacerated quadriceps muscle sounds absolutely, diabolically painful. He wasn’t ruled out for the rest of the season, but he will likely be out for awhile following the procedure.

Utah to hold new survey for team name [Deseret News]

With the Utah Yeti no longer an option, their fans will have a chance to vote on a new mascot. The choices will be Utah Hockey Club, Utah Mammoth, and Utah Wasatch. The voting will take place over the next four home games and include photos of corresponding logos and jerseys. While voting, fans will be asked to put their phones away so that the designs won’t be leaked.

Mike Grier outlines Sharks’ deadline plans [The Mercury News]

With seven pending unrestricted free agents, Grier is going to be a busy man over the next several weeks. One thing to note is that San Jose does not have any retention slots open as they used them on deals for Brent Burns, Erik Karlsson, and Tomas Hertl, so a team will either have to take on the full salary or use a third team to broker the cap hit.

How does a franchise icon move on? [The Athletic]

Joe Smith chats with The Captain about the move to Nashville. There isn’t much new in the article (other than the Stamkos family living in Ryan McDonagh’s old house) but Stammer does reiterate that he hoped/expected to stay in Tampa all the way up to July 1st.

If you enjoyed this article please consider supporting RawCharge by subscribing here, or purchasing our merchandise here.

Support RawCharge by using our Affiliate Link when Shopping Hockey Apparel !

Talking Points